Thomas Schmidt had been thinking about getting solar panels for his home for years. Because his home runs entirely on electricity (there’s not even any natural gas), his power bill was pretty high month after month. When they left a brochure on his door one day, he decided to give Auric Solar a call.

After one of Auric’s energy consultants explained a financing plan that makes solar affordable through low monthly payments and tax credits, Thomas was ready to go. With a few small electrical upgrades, his roof transformed into a personal, clean power-producing plant in just a few months. His power bill that used to top $100 regularly was $20 the first month his solar panels were operational.

As for life with solar, Thomas says the only difference has been in his family’s habits. Even his kids are more conscious than they used to be about turning off lights when they’re not in a room. His entire family is in a constant competition with themselves to use power as effectively as they can. They check their solar monitoring on their smartphone app and computer regularly to see how their habits affect not only their power bill, but the equivalent of how many trees they’re saving or how many cars they’re taking off the road.

For Thomas, solar made sense financially, but helping the environment and doing his part to make the world a little bit better was also significant.

So what’s next for Thomas? He’s looking forward to buying an electric motorcycle when they’re available in the next few years and having it powered by solar.